Daniel Lentz - Lips – Unseen Worlds

Daniel Lentz - Lips

Digital

$9.00

Daniel Lentz - Lips

$9.00

Daniel Lentz 1960s 1970s 1980s Classical Art Song Percussion Piano Spoken Word Archival Live Reissue

Description

Daniel Lentz's Lips, comprised of archival recordings of works from 1965 -1989, encapsulates the diverse influences of his Californian environment. Featuring works like "Song(s) of the Sirens," which reflect Lentz's signature style of looped vocals and fragmented texts, this collection demonstrates his unique blend of music that feels both structured and spontaneous. The album highlights Lentz’s innovative use of phonemes, creating music that gradually reveals its meaning. This technique is vividly showcased in "North American Eclipse" and "Uitoto," which incorporate Native American elements and extensive vocal processes to create a mesmerizing soundscape.

The album also includes "Requiem, In memoriam Wolfgang Stoerchle – Songs in a Medieval Manner," a tribute that uses Latin texts and ethereal soundscapes to honor Lentz’s late friend. Meanwhile, "Talk Radio" captures the vibrant chaos of LA’s freeways and radio stations, infusing modern rhythms and historical melodies into a collage of everyday sounds. Finally, "Fünke," a piece predating Lentz’s California days, connects with later works through its innovative structure and emphasis on percussion, hinting at Lentz’s enduring themes of music as an evolving process.

Overall, Lips not only showcases Lentz’s technical mastery and innovative use of voice but also reflects his deep connection to his surroundings, making it a profound listening experience that captures the essence of a transformative period in his career.

Press

the kind of album that sneaks up on you, wrapping itself around your senses like the lingering fog over a California coastline… a collection of pieces that simultaneously disorient and captivate.

Chain D.L.K.

Long years of residency in California have helped Lentz to sever ties with the reified conventionalities of Europe's more recent centuries and to create music where freshness, buoyancy and beauty play a vital role. Lips reflects this acclimatisation to America's West Coast to a point where, on "Uitoto", amid a piano's rolling waves, Lentz seems to channel the youthful spirit of Brian Wilson.

Julian Cowley, The Wire

Liner Notes

"Lips" Liner Notes by Tim Rutherford-Johnson

May 05, 2024

Track List

DIGITAL TRACK LIST

North American Eclipse (20:10)
Song(s) of the Sirens (7:35)
Fünke (5:55)
Talk Radio (14:04)
Uitoto (25:50)Requiem: In Memoriam Wolfgang StoerchleSongs in a Medieval Manner
Requiem (2:10)
Kyrie (1:52)
Dies Irae (3:28)
Liber Scriptus (2:08)
Recordare (4:52)
Lacrymosa (2:48)

℗ Lentz Music under Exclusive License to Unseen Worlds

Credits

Cover art: Daniel Lentz, "ecLIPSe", drawing in crayon
Mastering: Stephan Mathieu
Above and beyond: Bradford Ellis
Additional design: D. Norsen

North American Eclipse (1974)
Recorded by: Sveriges Radio Oscarskyrkan, Stockholm, Sweden
Date: 1976-09-23
Ensemble: San Andreas Fault
Conductor: Daniel Lentz
Musicians:
Daniel Lentz: Piano, Voice
Peggy Huff: Voice, Recorder, Percussionist
Catherine Darling: Transverse Flute, Various Instruments
Sholly von Stein: Voice, Recorder, Percussionist
Garry Eister: Voice, Guitar, Recorder, Piano, Percussionist
Stan Carey: Voice, Guitar, Recorder, Percussionist
Barbara Imhoff: Harpa, Piano, Voice, Recorder, Percussionist
Els van Wingerden: Cast, Light & Sound

Song(s) of the Sirens (1973)
Recorded at: Westlake Studio, LA
Date: 1975
Ensemble: The Montagnana Trio
Musicians:
Caroline Worthington: Cello
John Gates: Clarinet
Delores Stevens: Piano

Fünke (1965)
Recorded in: Hilversum, The Netherlands
Date: 1967
Ensemble: Fünke Quintet
Musicians:
Rien De Reede: Solo Flute
Theo Bles: Piano
Staf Schouten: Bass
Willy Goudswaard: Vibraphone
Hans v.d. Berg: Drums, Percussion

Talk Radio (1989)
Recorded in: Milwaukee, WI
Conductor: Kevin Stalheim
Soloist: Jessica Karraker
Ensemble: Present Music Ensemble
Keyboards, Sound Design and Digital Sonic Archeology: Bradford Ellis
Producers: Daniel Lentz, Bradford Ellis

Uitoto (1980)
Recorded at: Music Annex studio, Menlo Park, CA
Date: 1980
Producers: Daniel Lentz, Garry Eister

Requiem: In Memoriam Wolfgang Stoerchle – Songs in a Medieval Manner (1976)
Tracks: Requiem, Kyrie, Dies Irae, Liber Scriptus, Recordare, Lacrymosa
Recorded by: Sveriges Radio Oscarskyrkan, Stockholm, Sweden
Date: 1976-09-23
Producer: Curt Carlsson
Presenter: Per Skans
Ensemble: San Andreas Fault
Conductor: Daniel Lentz
Musicians:
Daniel Lentz: Piano, Voice
Peggy Huff: Voice, Recorder, Percussionist
Catherine Darling: Transverse Flute, Various Instruments
Sholly von Stein: Voice, Recorder, Percussionist
Garry Eister: Voice, Guitar, Recorder, Piano, Percussionist
Stan Carey: Voice, Guitar, Recorder, Percussionist
Barbara Imhoff: Harpa, Piano, Voice, Recorder, Percussionist
Els van Wingerden: Cast, Light & Sound

About Daniel Lentz

Daniel Lentz (March 10, 1942 – July 25, 2025) was an American composer, performer, and writer whose work occupied a distinctive space between minimalism, electronic music, and experimental lyricism. Over a career spanning more than five decades, he developed a highly personal musical language characterized by repetition, amplified acoustic instruments, spoken text, and luminous harmonic textures.

Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Lentz first came to prominence while a student at Brandeis University. In 1966 he received a fellowship in composition at the Tanglewood Music Center. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Electronic Music for 1967–68, which he completed in Stockholm, Sweden, an experience that deepened his engagement with studio-based composition and emerging electronic techniques. In 1968 he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a visiting lecturer before shifting his primary focus toward composing and performing.

In 1970 Lentz founded the ensemble California Time Machine, which toured extensively in North America and Europe and became a vehicle for his early large-scale works. He received the Gaudeamus International Composers Award in 1972, consolidating his international reputation. He later formed and directed the ensemble San Andreas Fault, continuing to develop performance-based realizations of his music across Europe and the United States. After returning to Southern California, he established the Daniel Lentz Group in Los Angeles, which toured internationally and recorded widely.

Lentz’s 1987 album The Crack in the Bell became the first contemporary classical release issued by Angel/EMI Records, marking a rare major-label recognition for an experimental American composer of his generation. Throughout his career, he maintained a commission-based practice and produced a substantial catalog of works for voices, chamber ensembles, amplified instruments, and mixed media. His aesthetic often integrated poetic or philosophical texts, including his own writing, and he was known for a sound world that combined meditative stillness with theatrical immediacy.

Lentz remained active as a composer and thinker into the later decades of his life. He lived for many years in Southern California. He is survived by his daughter from his first marriage and by a legacy of recordings, scores, and performances that continue to influence composers working at the intersection of minimalism and post-minimalist experimental music.